Jobcentre journey time model

Introduction

This interactive data visualisation presents our experimental jobcentre journey time model. It provides an overview of planned changes to the jobcentre estate in England and allows exploration of the estimated impact that these changes may have on the time it takes for people to travel to their nearest jobcentre when using public transport.

The model covers:

the baseline jobcentre estate as at January 2015;

the future estate design as proposed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in its consultation published in January 2017; and

the updated future (April 2018) jobcentre estate design as at September 2017, as outlined by DWP in its consultation response in July 2017.

The model focuses on journey time information using public transport only. It does not evaluate the decisions made by DWP in making changes to its estate. It also does not incorporate other factors to consider when deciding whether to open, retain or close a jobcentre site. These factors include contractual arrangements, the capacity and costs of sites, and the staff which run them.

The jobcentre journey time model currently presents data for England only. Once additional travel time data is available, we will extend the model to include Scotland and Wales.

Please wait for page to load…

Notes

The jobcentre journey time model uses four main data sources:

Output areas – a standard geographical area defined by the ONS on its geography portal following the 2011 Census, consisting of approximately 125 households used as an approximation for where people live.

Travel time estimates between output areas and jobcentres – based on data obtained from the Department for Transport (DfT) travel time model and using public transport journey time only (this methodology is used to produce national statistics on travel time to several types of public services).

Claimant numbers – a measure of the number of people claiming benefit principally for the reason of being unemployed disaggregated by Lower Super Output Area. The measure includes all Universal Credit claimants who are required to seek work and be available for work, as well as all Jobseekers Allowance Claimants. The model presents data downloaded from NOMIS as at September 2017.

There are several assumptions contained in the jobcentre journey time model that need to be taken into account when using the information produced. The assumptions include:

Jobcentre location – The model uses travel time data to existing jobcentres and where necessary, schools, GP surgeries or centres of employment which act as proxy locations for jobcentres where more robust information is unavailable. The model is not currently designed to identify the optimal locations for new jobcentres.

Public transport travel time – The model uses estimated travel time using public transport only. This assumes people who need to use a jobcentre do not have access to private transport.

No use of capacity, cost or staffing information – The model presents the impact of changes to the jobcentre estate from the perspective of people who use them only. The model does not take into account a wide range of other variables which are important to consider in decisions around the future make up of the jobcentre estate.

Estimated average journey times are aggregated to the government office region and national level are an overall measure of impact on the jobcentre estate. Average journey times have been weighted by the number of claimants in each area as at September 2017 (see table).

Jobcentre journey time data was obtained from DfT in April 2016. Additional journey time data for primary schools, GP surgeries and centres of employment was obtained from DfT in January 2017
Claimant data for September 2017 was downloaded from the NOMIS website.

Our jobcentre journey time model uses travel time estimates from 171,372 English output areas to the nearest ten jobcentre sites. This data was produced by the Department for Transport using a commercial software package called TRACC, owned by Basemap. DWP’s estate announcements in 2017 introduced plans for new sites into the estate. We have identified 80 sites that do not match DfT’s 2016 data set, including both current and new sites.

We plan to obtain an updated list of journey time measurements from the Department for Transport to cover these unmatched sites. As an interim measure, we have used site review and nearest neighbour matching to identify a mix of existing jobcentres, primary schools, GP surgeries and centres of employment to act as proxy end point locations.

The dataset underpinning our model has identified no journey time impact between any output area when the Oxford Floyds Row site is removed from the jobcentre estate. We will re-examine this site when we update the model with refresh journey time information from Department for Transport.

A. Our model attempts to accurately reflect DWP proposals on the future of the jobcentre estate as at September 2017. If you have any questions about the status of a particular jobcentre site, please refer to DWP proposals directly